IT'S time for cool heads, not hot heads, as Blackburn Rovers go in search of their first away points of the new season at the Reebok Stadium this weekend.

Recent clashes between Rovers and Bolton have tended to be feisty affairs and I don't expect the one on Sunday to be any different in that respect.

The simmering rivalry between the two clubs has grown in intensity since they both got promoted back to the Premiership four years ago and derbies between the two are always fiercely contested and passionate occasions.

With that in mind, the spotlight is sure to be on Mark Hughes and his players this weekend with the national media ready to pounce on any outbreaks of indiscipline.

With the game being beamed live to the nation, I'm sure the producers at Sky would love to see Rovers live up to their 'bully boy' status in the interests of viewing figures, but the players have got to try to put that to the backs of their minds and concentrate on playing to their strengths.

All the recent hysteria in the papers is bound to have had an effect on the squad but Sparky and the lads shouldn't change their approach to games just to please a handful of critics.

To be honest, I don't have a problem with the way we actually approach games. You've got to be competitive and aggressive.

What I do have a problem with is people getting booked and sent off for silly reasons.

If you let your heart rule your head in this day and age then you're going to get in trouble because footballers have never been more heavily scrutinised than they are now.

So far this season, we've had three players sent off (Andy Todd was red carded in retrospect) and none of the three offenders can claim to have been unfairly treated.

Each one lost their cool when the chips were down and we can't afford to keep shooting ourselves in the foot like that.

The players themselves have got to start taking more responsibility for their actions and think before they react to certain situations.

People might say I'm being hypocritical because I didn't exactly have the best of disciplinary records myself as a player, but if you look back over my career I think you'll find that I often fell foul of referees for mistimed challenges, not for going round trying to head-butt people.

We could have done with Andy Todd being in the team on Sunday, but instead he'll have to sit the game out because he failed to show restraint when provoked by Tottenham's Andy Reid.

I'm sure there'll be incidents again on Sunday when players will be tempted to react - particularly with wind-up merchants like El Hadji Diouf about - but they've got to start putting the team before themselves and learn to turn the other cheek.

When push comes to shove, we all want passion from the players but that has to be channelled in the right direction, because the team that often triumphs on derby day is the one that keeps its head.